The Grand Valley State volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to a tough Ashland Eagles squad on Friday night (Oct. 19) inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. With the setback, the Lakers fall to 12-10 overall and 5-7 in conference action while the Eagles jump to 19-5 and 10-2 in the GLIAC. The Lakers will look to get back in the win column tomorrow afternoon (Oct. 20) as they are set to face Wayne State in an important league matchup.
The Lakers struggled to get into any offensive rhythm in the match, as they wound up hitting just .121 compared to the Eagles .314 clip. Unfortunately for GVSU, Ashland also led in most other statistical categories as well, including total kills (48-35), assists (47-34), digs (64-56) and team blocks (6-5).
Senior middle blocker
Staci Brower was the only consistent option for the Laker offensive attack as she tallied a team-best 13 kills to go along with a .444 attack percentage. She also tallied four block assists on the night, a game-high. Sophomore setter
Ashlyn Kartes led the squad with 28 assists on offense while libero
Kendall Yerkes picked up 18 digs to lead the team.
The Lakers struggles started early on in the night as they scored just three of the first 16 points to fall into a 13-3 deficit in set one. After a little fight in the middle of the set that brought the score to 19-8, the Eagles shut the Lakers down on the stretch, winning the set 25-12 to go up 1-0 in the match.
GVSU's woes continued in set two, as they once again put themselves in a deep hole early on, this time 8-2. GVSU wouldn't be quieted in this set however, as they battled back to a two-point deficit, 9-7, before eventually tying the set up at 13-all. The teams then traded points back and forth until a 4-1 Ashland run put them up 21-18 before they closed the Lakers out late to take set two 25-20.
Set three started much different than the previous two. The teams were evenly matched up early on, tying at points 3-14 before the Eagles managed to break the streak after a 14-14 tie with a 7-1 run to jump out to a 21-15 lead. A 5-2 run by GVSU cut AU's lead to just four, 22-18, before made one final push late brought it within two, 24-22. Unfortunately, the Eagles managed to force one final Laker attack error to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
Again, the Lakers will be back in action tomorrow afternoon (Oct. 20) at 4PM against Wayne State inside GVSU Fieldhouse Arena.
